Friday June 18, 2010 6:03 pm

Weekend Reading: Bob Bolling, Dave Simons, Kirk Alyn and Chuck Jones

Hey Librarians! Pack up your decimals of Dewey and head out to Washington DC, where all the cool graphic novels are going to be talked about. It’s the American Library Association’s annual conference, and it’s set for June 24-June 29. Early Word has the word on all the graphic novel programming just waiting for you.

Dave Simons: It’s been one year since the death of the acclaimed artist Dave Simons and his friend Daniel Best and 20th Century Danny Boy remembers him with stories and quotes, like this one: “Here is my recipe for a winning comic book cover: Flame. Gorilla. Skull. Hot chick. Other elements of interest: Nazis, dinosaurs.” I would totally buy Flaming Gorilla Skull Chick Vs. Nazi Dinosaur #1 from any publisher. Even at $3.99. I’ll even write it. And I wish Dave was still alive to draw it.

Superman Serials: The Bijou Blog takes a look at those Superman movies that most comic book fans don’t care about: the old serials like Superman and Atom Man Vs. Superman, starring Kirk Alyn. “His Superman seems stern at times, then happy-go-lucky, but also happens to take a sadistic glee in cracking two crooks’ heads together. The cape appears to give him some trouble. Alyn is seen to push it out of his way several times and he never runs while in costume, doing more of a ballet leap to keep from tripping.”

Bob Bolling: I can never get enough of the great Little Archie writer/artist and thankfully neither can Jaime Weinman.

Spider-Man Fail: Who had “Spider-Man Meets Iron Man At The Airport In A Not-Timely Cross Promotion For Iron Man 2” in the office pool? The Comics Curmudgeon, that’s who.

Comics For Women: I’m one of those people who thinks that women love comics just as much as guys do. They’re just not going to buy comics to see their gender get stuffed into refrigerators and they’re really not going to buy some lame direct market super-hero comic. Over at the librarian blog Early Word (yep, them again), Robin Brenner talks about the intersect of women, comics and libraries. “When I speak to women patrons in my library about comics, they are clearly interested in titles aimed at them. I’ve let them know I do the buying for the graphic novel section. As a result, a few women, from their twenties to their fifties, now approach me to request titles from creators like Lucy Knisley, Marjane Satrapi, Rutu Modan, Posy Simmonds, Alison Bechdel, and Hope Larson.”

Rust Never Sleeps: Over at Large Hearted Boy, they chat with Joshua Dysart and Cliff Chiang about music and its relationship to Neil Young’s Greendale.

Camp: You can have your Bible Camp, Summer Camp, Band Camp and Scout Camp. For me, there’s only one camp worth attending and it’s affiliated with animation director Chuck Jones.

Tom Davis: This falls into the Not Comics category. A million years ago, Tom Davis was comedy partners with now-Senator Al Franken, most famously on Saturday Night Live. Davis did not enjoy the post-SNL success of his former partner and now, well, let comedian Dennis Perrin explain it to you.

And finally, since no one’s interested in making my movie, Giant Pirate Vs. Zombie Samurai, I’ll just have to get ready for next week’s premiere of Dinocroc Vs. Supergator on Syfy. Enjoy your internets and have a happy Father’s Day weekend!

[Artwork: Publicity still of Kirk Alyn as Superman, stolen from The Files Of Jerry Blake, which has an excellent overview of Alyn’s career.]